The Powerwall at the University of Konstanz

The powerwall was officially put into operation at the Department of Computer and Information Science, Konstanz University, in May 2005, and has been updated at the middle of 2013.

The powerwall (developed by Barco as two channel Galaxy 4K solution) offers high resolution functionalities in mono (4K) and active stereo (2k). The powerwall system is based on 3-chip DLP projection technology, each with a total resolution of 4096x2160. Two Barco Galaxy 4K projectors are positioned behind the screen. The projectors have the required features on board to guarantee both brightness and color uniformity from the beginning throughout the total lifetime of the system.

Dimensions per screen:

Required room width/height = 5800 mm/2300mm

Required room depth = 3500 mm

Image width = 5200 mm

Image height = 2150 mm

Start Image = 500 mm

Total resolution = 5224 x 2160 pixels (= > 11.28 Million)

Pixel size = 1 mm

Stereo Technology = mono (4k)/ active stereo (2k)

Applications

The powerwall opens up completely new perspectives in the area of visual data exploration, an area of expertise at the department, which involves the detection of relations in large information spaces. This means, for example, that in the analysis of election results, customer data or stock-exchange prices, no reduction of aggregation of data is required in comparison to previous monitors; data can generally be displayed in its entirety. In addition, there are numerous other areas of application for the powerwall in both research and industry. The wall enables lifelike images of landscapes, buildings, either real or imaginary. As sharp and as large as this was previously impossible. This is interesting for biologists who want to observe life-size body cross sections in detail. The wall is also of interest to car manufacturers who like to inspect the new models in their original size.

This project brought out the excellent teamwork among all the people involved and was denoted a complete success at the opening ceremony on 11 May 2005. Rector Prof. Dr. Gerhart von Graevenitz commented on the positive development of the Department of Information Science and the Assistant Director Dr. Knorr from the Ministry of Science, Research and Art in Baden-Württemberg praised the exemplary development of the area of focus of "Data Exploration and Visualisation" at the University of Konstanz.

Areas of application

The powerwall can be applied in a wide range of areas, including data exploration and visualisation for the Department of Informatics or in cooperation with industry (e.g. car manufacturers). Further areas of interest are controlling, simulation, marketing analysis, traffic control systems, medicine and bioinformatics, for example.